Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Written by Sheila Roberts Sunday, 15 May 2011 20:49
Interview
Johnny Depp returns to his iconic role of Captain Jack Sparrow in the action-packed adventure, Pirates of the
This latest installment of the hit franchise captures the fun, excitement and humor in Disney Digital 3D as Captain Jack crosses paths (and swords) with the enigmatic Angelica (Penélope Cruz). When she forces him aboard the “Queen Anne’s Revenge,” the ship of the legendary pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane), Jack finds himself on an unexpected journey to the fabled Fountain of Youth, along with former for Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush)…
We sat down with director Rob Marshall, producer Jerry Bruckheimer and stars Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush and Ian McShane conference in Los Angeles to talk about their new film. They told us how the storyline evolved and expanded to include new characters, what it was like shooting with a new director at the helm, and why they enjoyed being part of the next installment of the hugely successful Pirates franchise. Here’s what they had to say:
Penelope, what was it like for you doing this action movie; was there a lot of preparation?
PENELOPE CRUZ We did have a lot of preparation, we started a couple of months before the shooting started. The actors of the other three movies are amazing and they taught me with a lot of patience. So I knew most of the choreography because they put them together like choreographies, almost like when [Rob Marshall and I] were doing Nine together. They were really protective at every moment and that meant so much to me.
And Rob, what was it like to work with Penelope again?
ROB MARSHALL I’m so blessed to work with this extraordinary cast, and working with Penelope again was a huge, beautiful highlight for me. This is a very different genre for me, but actually when I began working on it it felt very akin in a way to things I’ve done before because of the rhythm. I mean when you’re doing an action set piece, it’s very similar, as Penelope just said, to choreography in a way because it’s shot that way. It’s meticulous how it’s rehearsed. I mean, you have no idea.
I could talk for seven hours about Johnny Depp but, please, there’s no one like him. And to watch him, he has this amazing ability to watch something and then pick it up and do it within seconds. Because he’s Fred Astaire, he’s this genius dancer. For me, he is. And he says he can’t dance, but he can. He’s extraordinary physically as the entire cast is.
Jerry, there were two years between the other Pirates films, and there’s four years since the last one. What made you want to go back?
JERRY BRUCKHEIMER I think buying the book gave us a starting place, and gave us a lot of ideas to work on it, and screenplays are the hardest thing to try to get right. They look so simple when they work, but they really destroy your brain cells trying to get them there. So we took our time, we got it right, Johnny was really instrumental in working on the script process with us. But you also have to find the casts’ availability too. Johnny’s busy and a lot of our other cast members are busy so we were very lucky that we finally found a time when they were all available together and we could make the picture. And we brought in Rob, and it was a real coup to get him. We’re so fortunate that he agreed to do this.
Penelope, what was the key thing for you in creating this character; was it the clothes or learning the sword play?
CRUZ For sure in a character like this it really helps to have those costumes and to be in the real locations. It was very helpful that we didn’t go into a studio until after we’d already shot for two or three months in
And Ian, how did you approach your role as the evil villain?
IAN MCSHANE By the time I got a costume which Penny Rose devised, this extraordinary leather, biker, rocker, pirate outfit and by the time Penny fixed those twelve, black dead cats to my neck making this extraordinary beard – no, it was great. I didn’t miss the swearing! No, this is a Disney movie, this isn’t HBO. When Jerry and Rob asked me to do it and I read the script and it was so literate, funny, quirky, and it was a delight.
Geoffrey, this is your fourth time as Barbossa; what attracted you to come back?
GEOFFREY RUSH I have to thank Johnny because I think in the development of the screenplay, he said we must keep the Barbossa and Sparrow as an old married couple constantly bickering. Because it goes back to the first film, the ownership of the Pearl is at the heart of that conflict, and I think it was only on this film that we started to talk about the Black Pearl as a sort of shared girlfriend because it kind of made that plotline a little bit more interesting than talking about a boat. But they keep shape shifting the character which is quite good. I started out as the outright villain spat out from the mouth of hell. And then in 2 and 3 he sort of became more of a diplomat, and I think now he’s really landed on his feet, or foot. Barbossa is vain and arrogant and pompous enough to think that he actually does belong in the court, and that gave me a terrific new set of variables to play with which was a lot of fun.
What was the balance you had to strike to make sure everything was clear without using too much exposition so that the audience understood what was happening?
BRUCKHEIMER I think that two and three get bashed a little bit, but you have to understand that two is the biggest of the bunch. It was an enormous success, and three reached almost a billion dollars. They were enormously successful movies even though the media didn’t understand them as much as the audience did, and that’s who we make movies for. I think one of the things we tried to address but we didn’t really have to address because we started fresh, we finished our trilogy and we paid off all our characters so we started introducing new characters and it makes it much easier to not have as long of a movie because you have less characters and less plot lines to deal with, with each character. This is something that Rob accomplished very well by making a picture that’s shorter and not quite as complicated because you have less characters to deal with.
We’ve heard that you’ve already gotten the script for the next film, so what’s the timeline for 5 and 6? And to what do you attribute the franchise’s success?
BRUCKHEIMER Well the success part is up to Disney. If it makes them a lot of money, it’s a success and we’re all hoping it makes them a lot of money. As far as the timeline, it took awhile to get this script to a place where we all were comfortable with it, and we just got a great rough first draft in and it’ll take some time, and hopefully we can bring it to you quicker than we did in the past. We hope that happens but it’s going to depend on getting a great piece of entertainment that everybody will enjoy, and that’s what it’s about. It’s about quality.
Johhny, do you have any of Captain Jack in you?
DEPP We’re totally different. There’s nothing that I can relate to in Captain Jack whatsoever. With every character you play, as these guys will tell you, there’s a part of you goes into that in terms of the ingredients of making this stew. There’s most definitely a part of me in Captain Jack and now, fortunately or unfortunately, there’s a great part of Captain Jack in me as well. Basically, I can’t shake him. He won’t leave me alone. He just sort of keeps showing up at odd times. In fact, he arrived this morning when I was getting my kids ready for school. I had to shoo him away. Yeah, thank you.
And do you think you could play this character again and again?
DEPP Yeah, I think they could wheel me in, yeah. Might have my dreads get tangled in the wheels of my chair. I don’t know, I mean, sure. Interestingly enough, for me, a character like Captain Jack, you feel like you could just continue. The possibilities are endless, limitless, you could – there’s any possibility of madness and absurdity that could commence. So you feel with this character that you’re never really done.
Some of the Pirates team is bringing us The Lone Ranger; what kind can we expect from that?
BRUCKHEIMER Nothing new yet on the casting. We’re in the process of meeting people right now, so it’s just starting for The Lone Ranger. I think it’ll have its own tone, it’s going to have a whole different kind of feel to it than what we’ve done in the past but it’ll be special because Johnny’s in it, and he’s got a real interesting beat on the character of Tonto.
DEPP I mean I feel like what we’re creating in these story meetings and script meetings in terms of character and in terms of story, yeah, I couldn’t say you could compare it to Pirates, but I suppose tonally there is a relationship because there is a kind of fascination with the absurd that’s involved in The Lone Ranger as well, some semblance of a reverence. But you need that, right, you’ve got to have that.
Johnny, when you were interviewed at the beginning of your career, you used to say that none of your movies would ever make any money. Do you feel guilty about that now?
DEPP It’s not my fault. I did my best, even to the point of trying to get fired on the first one and they just couldn’t bring themselves to do it. No, it’s kind of interesting to experience that kind of a ride after well, essentially 20 years of enjoying a career based on failures and then suddenly something clicks. The weird thing is, I never changed a thing. The process is still the process as it ever was. The fact that people decided to go and see a movie that I was in was probably the most shocking thing that I’ve ever been through.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides opens in UK cinemas on May 18 and in the USA on May 20. You can read our review here.
